First race with G25 pedals, I'm (almost) fully adapted, since I got them last Tuesday

Quali was difficult getting in some good clean laps. It was mostly my driving and sometimes traffic/trackposition. Looped it out of the chicane in a good lap, but could keep it out of the barriers. Even when my first run time would have been good enough for Pole, was determined to get in at least a low22. In my second run spun again at the hairpin, and then anger can be a funny thing. Improved to 22.45, and then had a real good lap keeping control of the car right on the edge. Still the laptime surprised me, a sub22, best lap ever in oAo beating the Bradbury's and co.!

This track has been driven a lot by me back in the day, recall missing out a dutch.gpl D2 Honda win in 2002, ofcourse the camshaft giving up the ghost late race...also was (one of) the first to get a sub25 here with the Honda back then. Great memories, well not so great running a season with the dutch Harakiri Honda Racing Team mostly having mechanicals.

Anyway, I knew my start and lap 1 was rather shaky. A combo of 36fps, and a difficult setup on cold tires. Having a few bad practiced starts didn't give me too much confidence, having seen how rock solid Michael was at the hairpin on lap 1, when I struggled braking there on my cold tires. Start was ok, good enough, but missed the apex at Sear, and had to correct the car. Michael was on my tail and knew I couldn't afford to screw up again at the hairpin. Just managed to keep the car in front of him exiting and at the Esses, from then on could break away and building up the tire grip. Actually it was quite a hard race, never dull. I like this track, but struggled for fast lap times and almost wrecked on a few occasions trying to do so. Lapped cars were great as usual. Glad I didn't really interfere with some of the fights, it pretty much equalled out for most. Penultimate lap major moment, almost lost the car pushing for fast lap and compromised last lap as well with a bad start of the lap.

Happy that I held it together for the team, will be a shoot-out between the D2 drivers. For the drivers as well as the teams. Good luck!

Grats to Tom, drive of the day, and Michael for podiums. Well done finishers, commiserations to the DNF's Thanks all for racing and a great season, personally. Also thanks to all involved, Bruce, Stewards and TSG, and last but not least all drivers!

PS: for those interested, my client replay of the pole lap. Standard shift times, no speedshifts, 100% on track (like Mexico, the white lines do not define the edges of the track according to GPL Replay Analyzer, the tool that is used by GPL Rank to verify laptimes). However, I'm a left foot braker shifting still with paddles.

Qualifying went above my expectations.
I set a lap time just under the 1:24s which I did not expect to reach, so I was pretty happy with it.

The start went all right, almost got Roy into turn 1 but he had better speed in the corner.
Then by the hairpin I braked slightly later than I should which lead me to lock my brakes quite hard. I wouldn't make the apex so I tried to steer very late in the corner.
Unfortunately I think I may have caused a chain reaction behind me due to this
Sorry to all involved in that.

So with that I had a pretty solid gap in fourth with the top three being too quick for me too catch up to.
I tried to just have solid pace but I often did not manage all the corners very well. Roy eventually caught up and overtook me, only a few laps later he was out.

But even so, I kept struggling and eventually Iestyn did catch up and overtook me as well.
So I had to settle with 5th position in the end, but not without slightly improving my PB on the last lap.
A solid result I'd say. I'm happy to finish again after three races in a row retiring...

So with that, I conclude the D1 championship in sixth place. 52 points, equal with Iestyn but a 2nd place at the Nürburgring made finish ahead.

Overall, the season had its ups and downs.
The first half of the season I think was quite in my element with many solid results and pace.
And quite a few potential podiums, of which two were more or less stolen by freezes.

It was especially at the second half things went downhill. Despite the 2nd place I missed a couple of races and retired regularly.
My teams was also really struggling due to a great amount of damage reports that really prevented us to purchase a better car.
So yeah, it did frustrated me at first, but for this last race I let the fanaticism I had go and just prioritize the element of joy in racing.

But in the end, I can't say I'm disappointed in it. It was a bumpy ride, but I think I had a pretty good run.
Off to next season it is.

"Grand Prix Legends is a drug. I am addicted to it."- Based on a quote of Harry Schell

With the conclusion of the D1 season I would like to give a shout out here to my team leader for single-handedly keeping our team afloat. When I regale my wife with tales of Mr. Fleurke's exploits, I refer to him as "The Flying Dutchman." I know it's highly unoriginal, but it evokes a suitable image. In his 16 races this year he has generated a lot of statistics, including the usual suspects such as races won (a lot), pole positions (a bunch), laps led (a ton), and fastest lap (a bundle), but to me the clearest evidence of his control of his car is the fact that in not one of those races was he ever responsible for generating a single damage report. And but for his being rear-ended by his teammate in the very first corner at the Ring, we would not have had to spend two cents all year repairing the cars that Rob drove.

I am awed, sir, and I use that adjective in the Biblical sense of the word.

Either caught the kerbs or being pushed coming out of L1T4.
Spun several times on my own.
T-boned by Gerd, saw him coming in hot opened the steering but at one point I need to turn into the corner. He let me by half a lap later, so all good.
Nearly offed Michael when he was lapping me, apologies for that, I ran out of space, tyres and talent. Didn't mean to frighten you off the track.

On the positive side, I finished 8th, the car is undamaged and had a couple of nice battles with Burt. Must have passed him at least 3 times, just to quickly mess up in front of him.

Looking forward to see what Bruce has planned for the offseason. Really wish I had more time for racing this season.

Gained some positions when other had offs but did not have a lot of pace particularly on the two long straights. Michi had few offs which let me pass but he was at least a second a lap faster and re-passed each time.

Made a few minor mistakes but other than that drove pretty well. Finished 9th which gave Bend a small gap over the Privateers.

Hi, just a simple question before the D2 race. I know we encourage two wheels on the racing surface, but at Snett, can we drive onto the concrete? all four wheels? I know entering the esses is faster with all four off onto the concrete. I would just like a clarification.

Turn one has no concrete, but has a dotted line. I assume that can be all four over?

I'm keeping two wheels on the black tarmac ( at least trying too). It seems all the fast turns can be run with wheels on the concrete, even the run off at the hairpin.

I'm just trying to see if my 1:22's are legal. lol, not really, but I can dream, can't I?

Like Mexico, the white lines don't define the boundaries of the track. According to GPL Replay Analzyer, and GPL Rank (verified WR's) you can use the concrete fully here. You have to make sure to keep 2 tires on track at the last chicane. In general having 4 wheels off is slower, unless one practises for it straightening out.

Many use the concrete exiting the hairpin (I don't, unsettles the car), I do use the concrete at the Esses, and drive beyond the dotted line at T1 at times...

My pole lap was determined to be 100% on track by GPLRA.

Not stepping on the commish' or stewards' toes, but IMO GPLRA and GPLRank verified WR's are an authority to have some baseline for all tracks. It's good to be clear about a track so we can avoid the confusion of Assen last year where I felt some used an unfair advantage when I kept 2 wheels on the track and some where 4 wheels off each lap...

Some think it's OK as long you don't get DQ-ed, but I always try to obey the track limits for a track, and generally I'm among those with the highest on-track percentages, after Doni.